Considerable progress has been made in improving the fidelity of phonograph records. High-fidelity systems have attained a remarkable degree of perfection. Searching studies have been made of listening areas themselves.
It is curious to note that no parallel effort has been made to improve the holding and storage of records, while the slightest scratch on their grooves or the tiniest dust deposit causes spurious noise which decreases with the fidelity of the reproduction. From their earliest days, records have been slipped into jackets. The inevitable friction between the jacket and the record causes damage to the grooves and electrostatic charges which attract dust. Moreover, to remove a record from its jacket one must grasp its edge with at least two fingers in the area of the outer grooves.
Finally, records are often stored vertically, and their entire weight bears on the point where the record rests on its support. This can cause general warping of the record, causing listening imperfections which become more striking as reproduction improves.